Coming Home
by KatnissandPrimWeasley
Summary: Andromeda took a deep breath. "Well," she began, "Ted Tonks and I are getting married." (May be T later on?)
1. The Blacks Have A Talk

Disclaimer: do I look like J.K. Rowling? Exactly.

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Andromeda Black brushed out her long auburn hair in front of her bedroom mirror. With a blank expression, she plaited it down her back. She then dressed in a simple white dress she had gotten from her boyfriend, Ted Tonks.

"Today's the day," she whispered to her reflection.

Today was the day she would announce to her family the plans she had with her boyfriend. Ted Tonks was a Muggle-Born Hufflepuff, and Andromeda was a Pure-Blood Slytherin. She and Ted planned to get married as soon as they graduated Hogwarts next year and, as her parents were determined to keep their family pure, this would mean one thing: Andromeda would be disowned.

She was not afraid, however, nor sad to leave her family. They had had a rocky relationship ever since Andromeda started expressing different beliefs at the age of eight. She had once asked why it was bad to be a Mudblood; her parents, clearly appalled and thinking what a stupid question that was, had sent her to bed without dinner.

Still, Andromeda stayed true to her own beliefs, even at a young age. Whenever one of her two sisters said something foul about Muggle-Borns, she politely stated that she thought everyone was equal. She was level-headed and never lost her temper with anyone, or got upset when she was punished. Instead, she kept a blank aura and did not open her mouth.

That was the same approach she was to use today. She had everything planned out.

Andromeda headed down the stairs and appeared in the family kitchen, where everyone was sitting: her mother Druella, her father Cygnus, and her two sisters, Narcissa and Bellatrix. Narcissa was fourteen and Bellatrix was eighteen, the latter having left Hogwarts the previous year. She was soon to get married, a respectable, Pure-Blood marriage to Rodolphus Lestrange.

"We've been waiting for you," Druella snapped, her arms crossed. Narcissa sent Andromeda an apprehensive, almost apologetic look. The two of them had always had a closer relationship than Andromeda and Bellatrix had, but it had long since fallen apart.

"What did you wish to tell us?" said Cygnus almost boredly, stirring his tea idly.

Andromeda took a deep breath. She rocked back and forth on her feet, hands behind her back, stalling for time.

"Well," she began, speaking slowly, "Ted Tonks and I... Are getting married."

Druella gasped and dropped her teacup in shock; it shattered on the stone floor. Bellatrix cleaned it up with a wave of her wand and they all stood, looking furious.

"OUT!" Roared Cygnus, pointing to the door. "Get your things, and get _OUT!"_

"I-"

"OUT!"

Cygnus' hands were shaking; he had spilled tea down his front when he had leapt up, and his face was red. On the contrary, Druella, Narcissa and Bellatrix were all very pale. Narcissa looked quite frightened, but Bellatrix had an odd look of satisfaction on her face.

"Fine," said Andromeda simply.

She Apparated up to her bedroom where she grabbed a trunk- her Hogwarts trunk- that she had packed earlier, and Apparated back down again.

Andromeda took one last look at the people she used to call her family before heading to the door. When she stepped onto the threshold, Bellatrix shoved her the rest of the way out.

"You are no sister of ours," she snarled, before slamming the door in Andromeda's face.

Andromeda began walking down the dirt road, sun reflecting off her trunk on this August day. Once out of sight from her old home, she smiled. She was free at last.

A long-overdue laugh escaped her lips. She turned on the spot and vanished, anticipating Ted Tonks' face when she appeared on his doorstep in the middle of the summer.

She materialised in front of a country house. Though it was small, it was warm and cozy. The lights were on in the kitchen; looking through the window, Andromeda could see someone bustling over the stove, though they did not see her.

"I'm coming home, Ted," she whispered, before knocking on the door.

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A/N: Please leave a review and tell me what you think! Feedback helps more than you know.

Thanks for reading,

Prim


	2. Andromeda Meets the Family

A/N: Here's chapter two! Please don't favourite or follow without reviewing, I'd love to know what you think. I'm a lazy geek, so this took a while to upload.

I don't own Harry Potter. Sadly.

-Prim

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"Just a moment!" said a voice from inside.

Seconds later, a yellow-haired man with a big belly answered the door.

"Hello, who-" he began, but stopped and stared when he took in the appearance of the visitor.

Andromeda's once clean dress now had stains all over it; her hair was windswept and she looked worn and tired. She carried a large trunk in one hand and her wand in the other. She supposed she looked quite odd to a Muggle who had no idea who she was, or why she was standing on his doorstep.

"Hello," she said calmly. "My name is Andromeda Black. I'm a witch."

••••

Once inside, and after discovering that Andromeda was his son's girlfriend, Elias Tonks was much warmer towards his guest. Elena Tonks had positively beamed upon meeting the seventeen-year-old, immediately embracing her and fussing over the state of her well-being.

"Ted's said so much about you, but I didn't know you're together! How wonderful!" She exclaimed, taking the heavy trunk from Andromeda. "I'll put your things in the guest room, you can sleep there."

"I don't mean to be a burden, Mrs. Tonks-"

Ted's mother looked up from the spot on the floor where she had been kneeling, cleaning Andromeda's dress.

"Call me Elena," she began, "and you won't be a burden at all! Besides, you'll be back at school in a week and a half." She stood up and placed a cloth on the counter.

A figure with dirty blonde hair entered the kitchen through the hallway, yawning. "What's all the fuss about?" he said sleepily, before noticing his girlfriend.

His face lit up in surprise and delight. "Dromeda!" he exclaimed, putting his arms around her. "What are you doing here?"

Andromeda glanced left and right. Conscious of two pairs of eyes on her, she mumbled "later" into Ted's ear and let go.

"I'll help you with your things," said Ted, though it was quite unnecessary. Andromeda knew he wanted to talk in private.

She smiled back at Mr. and Mrs. Tonks. "Thank you for everything," she said, and followed Ted to the spare bedroom.

The room was small, but not cramped; much like the house itself, it seemed comfortable without being too large. There was a wooden-framed bed and a matching dresser, as well as a full-length mirror and a nightstand with a lamp on top. It was simple and neat, unlike Andromeda's old room, which was large with lots of cherrywood furniture.

Ted put the trunk under the bed and sat down on it next to Andromeda. "So, why are you here anyway?"

"I've been disowned," Andromeda said without hesitation.

Ted grabbed her hand. "Wow... I'm sorry."

"Mm, don't be," Andromeda rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm glad to be away from there."

For a whole they sat together, simply enjoying eachother's company, not talking. Andromeda closed her eyes and let Ted stroke her hair, something he had come to do now that her hair was longer. It was peaceful, it was innocent, and it was how it should always be.

They fell asleep together there, in that small bedroom in the countryside. A Slytherin and a Hufflepuff, a Pureblood and a Muggleborn. Polar opposites, but love is blind, and does not see such petty differences. No one would have seen it coming, but that is the beauty of it: looking past differences for the one you love.


	3. Excited Grey Eyes and Long Black Hair

All too soon they found the summer coming to a close, and all too soon it was time to go back to school.

Andromeda and the Tonks family woke up early on September first to get to King's Cross. Their things had not left their trunks since June, so all they had to do was add the spellbooks they had bought the previous week in Diagon Alley.

It took just over an hour to drive from their house in Tonbridge to King's Cross Station. Once they arrived, it was not hard at all to separate wizards from Muggles; some of their fellow Hogwarts students carried owls, though they themselves did not. The platform was as crowded as ever and, after saying goodbye to Ted's parents, he and Andromeda clambered onto the train to find an empty compartment. Ted left for a while to do prefect duties (Andromeda was not "worthy" of the position as her sisters had been), during which time Andromeda's cousin, Sirius Black, stopped to say hi.

Sirius was a first year and, like Andromeda, was different from his prejudiced family. Through this, the cousins had formed a close friendship, and it was unfortunate that they would have only one year of schooling in common.

"Mum told me the news," said Sirius, peeking his head into the compartment. "Congratulations. On you and Ted, I mean, though I suppose you don't mind being away from there?"

Andromeda nodded. "Not really," she said, though she couldn't help but feel a pang in her chest as she wondered how life would have been if she was the same as her family.

She held out a chocolate frog to Sirius, but he shook his head, sending his long black hair everywhere.

"Nah, I've gotta get back to my compartment. I've made friends already, can you believe it?"

"I'm not surprised," said Andromeda, waving a hand in farewell.

"See you soon, I hope," said Sirius. His head disappeared from view, and the compartment door slammed shut.

••••••

Inside the Great Hall, the first years grouped in the front while the others found their seats. Andromeda and Ted departed with a hug before heading their separate ways.

"Black, Sirius" was the third name to be called.

Sirius went up relaxedly, trying to appear cool. (It worked.) The hat was plopped onto his head. During the minute that it stayed there, Sirius appeared to be fighting verbally with the hat. Judging by Sirius' face, he wasn't going to get the house he wanted. Then the hat spoke.

"Okay, okay! Some nerve on this one! GRYFFINDOR!"

Andromeda clapped the loudest then, the only Slytherin to do so. Sirius didn't have to pass the Slytherin table to get to his seat, but he grinned in Andromeda's direction before siting down.

She and Sirius had a nice chat afterwards in the corridor. Then she crossed paths with Ted briefly before it was time to go to the dormitories.

Later that night, behind emerald green hangings, Andromeda dreamt of excited grey eyes and long black hair, of chocolate frogs, and, though she did not know why, an untouched veil on a stone dais, fluttering in a nonexistent breeze.

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I've written a story of the chat Sirius and Andromeda had. It's called _The Lion and the Cobra,_ on this same account.

I'd love to hear your opinions, please review!

Hope you enjoyed,

Prim


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